


Karl

by AOO



Category: Ylvis
Genre: Gen, bro feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-08 15:04:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15245934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AOO/pseuds/AOO
Summary: While filming the second season of Stories from Norway, the boys have issues with the director of one of their episodes.





	Karl

A mixture of pinks and purples were filling the western horizon as the sun began to set. Bård took a moment to appreciate the evening sky. It was truly remarkable and he was about to say something to that effect when he noticed the irritation on his brother’s face. It was clear that now wasn't a good time.

“Shit” Vegard mumbled under his breath as he watched the replay of their afternoon's work on the monitor.

“What's wrong?” Bård wasn't sure what had happened this time, but he felt certain he knew who was responsible.

“We didn't get it.” Vegard said quietly.

“We must have gotten something, let me see.”

Vegard showed no signs of being ready to step aside, and instead repeated himself, a little louder this time, “We didn't get it!"

Black curls were bouncing around as his brother shook his head. It was a relatively small movement, but Bård recognised it. Vegard was furious. “Maybe we can still get something before the sun sets,” he offered.

“Damn it! We’ve got **nothing** useful. _**Nothing**_!!” It was obvious that Vegard either didn’t hear him or was ignoring what he saw as a stupid idea.

Bård touched hits brother's elbow, hoping that he might get his full attention. "Vegard, lets just take a minute and regroup.”

“Regroup? How do we do that?? Because of Karl we didn't accomplish anything today! You do remember that we have a schedule to keep, right?  Karl fucked up... **_again..._ ** and now we have **_nothing..._ ** it's completely unusable!"

“Geez, Vegard, calm down.” Bård kept his voice low, hoping that his brother might take it as a cue.

“Why should I be calm? This can’t keep happening.”

Hiring Karl as the director for this episode of _Stories from Norway, Season II_ had been Bård's idea, after he'd heard about his former classmate’s problems. A mutual friend had assured him that Karl was doing well since getting out of treatment, he just needed an opportunity to get back to work. Apparently his last directing job before treatment hadn't ended well and now no one would hire him. Helping Karl get back on his feet had seemed like a good idea at the time. But now...

Nudging Vegard to the side Bård took a look at what they had shot. Karl hadn’t listened to any of the notes they’d given him earlier in the day. Bård’s stomach sank as he watched. It looked like a high school film project.  No, maybe not even that good.

“Karl, I need to talk to you now.” Vegard raised his voice to call the director over.

Bård turned his attention back to his brother. “Vegard. Let's talk about it first.” 

“Talk about it? What's there to talk about? This has to stop now.”

Karl walked up to the brothers, his face grimacing slightly as he caught a bit of the playback on the monitor.   

“What is this?!?" Vegard waved animatedly towards the monitor. "What about the angles I asked you to use? What about the lighting? This is worse than what happened last week!”

Karl stuttered a few nonsensical words in an attempt to defend himself.

“This is the third time you've messed up on this project and it's your last. You're fired!”

Bård winced as he listened to his brother's voice get louder and louder. No doubt, everyone in the vacinity had heard everything.

Karl’s face paled as he looked back and forth between the brothers. Bård momentarily wondered if his own face looked equally as shocked.

“Get your things. We'll pay you for what you've done up until now.” 

There was finality in his brother's tone. Bård knew better than to argue about it. Besides, really, what in the world could he say in Karl’s defense?

Karl turned and walked briskly toward the production trailer. Vegard turned away and walked off in the opposite direction. Throwing his hands up in the air, Bård decided to follow Karl, even though he had no idea of what he should say to the man.

As he walked across the field, he was silently fuming. Being the center of attention when he wasn't on camera was near the top of his list of least favorite things and Vegard's tirade had definitely caused a scene. He knew it was irrational but he felt like everyone was watching him now. Picking up his pace, he kept his eyes down on the ground to avoid meeting anyone's gaze.

When Bård got to the trailer Karl was angrily jamming his possessions into a box.

“Don't say a word to me,” Karl grumbled at Bård.

He could smell the alcohol on Karl’s breath, even from across the room. “You promised me,” Bård said quietly.

“Not a word!,” Karl hissed.

Making an effort to keep his cool, Bård approached Karl.  “You said you were ready, that you weren't drinking anymore.” Putting a hand on Karl's box, he tried to connect with the man. "You gave me your word."

Karl pulled the box away sharply and looked straight into Bård’s eyes. “Fuck you, man.”

“Wow! Fuck me? We gave you a chance when no one else would.”

“What do you want me to do? Kiss your feet?”

“No. I wanted you to do your job!”

“I have been.”

Bård rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Karl, come on. You saw what I saw in the monitor."

"Maybe the real problem is the shit you're trying to pass off as comedy."

"Are you kidding me?" He tried to pull together a response, but then realized that Karl's comment was just a deflection. “How could you start drinking again?”

“You two have been on my case ever since this began. Micromanaging me at every turn. Questioning every decision I made.  I'm the director! Why not listen to me?"

"Look, in the end, this is our reputation. Of course we're going to tell you what we want. How could that have been a surprise?"

"What about _my_ reputation? I had a vision, I had a plan! But you changed things - over and over - until it was unrecognizable. And now, when there are problems,  you're blaming me!"

" _Now_ there are problems?  **_Now_**?" Not only had today’s shoot had been a mess, but there had been a number of other incidents that had resulted in lost time and extra expense since they'd started filming a week and a half ago. "Who else could possibly be to blame? We've tried to help you as problems arose, but you didn't listen, did you?” 

“Did _you_ go to film school? No, I didn't think so. You didn't even go to _college_.”

Unlike Vegard, Bård still felt a little bit sensitive about that subject. Vegard would remind him that they had worked hard for their success and that having a degree doesn't necessarily mean that you're smart. But then Vegard could afford to feel that way, he had gone to school to become a pilot. 

“Look, I told you last week that you would need to listen to us and especially to Vegard.”

“Yeah, you did. And I told you to keep him out of my face!”

“He’s better at this than you are. Why couldn't you just think of this as a learning oppor…"

“Your brother is a fucking know-it-all and you're too stupid to see it.” Karl pushed Bård sharply on the chest sending him stumbling backwards.  “He’s not a director, I am.”

Bård managed to keep his balance even though he hit his thigh sharply on the corner of a desk. “You've got a problem.”

“You’re the one with the problem.” Karl moved toward Bård and pushed him again. “Still looking up to your older brother like he's your hero or something.”

“You don't know what you're talking about!” Bård knew that Karl was just trying to get under his skin, but he was surprised to find that it was working. "This is about you."

“He’s not even funny. You've always been the talented one. I don't even know why you drag him along with you.”

“Shut up!” Bård felt a rage bubbling up inside of him. He could make fun of his brother all day long, but heaven help the fool who said one bad word about Vegard.

 “I remember back in school he was so weird. We thought there was something seriously wrong with him.”

Bård felt a strong urge to punch the man in the face, but simply pushed past him so that he could get to the door. “You’re being an ass.” Bård shook his head in disbelief as he exited the trailer.

Not feeling up to any more confrontations right now, he walked straight past his and his brother's trailer and followed the narrow hiking trail that climbed a hill into the woods. The temperature seemed to have dropped about 10 degrees in the last twenty minutes and he was glad he'd thrown his jacket on.

He walked for a while lost in his own thoughts, mostly unaware of his surroundings. He was angry at Karl for messing up over and over again and angry at himself for ever having vouched for the man. And he was angry at Vegard for firing Karl without any discussion. That wasn't how they worked. It made him feel as if Vegard blamed him for the fiasco that this shoot had become. That feeling was worse than his own self-blame was at the moment.  

Walking seemed to clear his head. His thoughts slowed and he began to pay more attention to the sounds of the forest as well as the sounds of his own breathing. Coming into an opening in the trees he found himself on an overlook. Below him lay a river valley lit up only by the early evening moonlight and the soft glow of light through the windows of a few small houses which dotted the riverside. It was beautiful and he decided to sit down and enjoy the scene for a moment.

After a few minutes the rest of the day's tension lifted from his shoulders. He didn't really blame Vegard for getting angry. He was really more upset with himself for pushing to hire Karl. Regardless of the mistakes Karl had made,  Bard felt responsible for the situation they were in now. There were a lot of people relying on them to complete this project. Camera operators, sound technicians, lighting, make-up artists, costume designers. The list went on and on. And worst of all, he'd let his brother down. No wonder Vegard had fired Karl without consulting him first. He’d lost his big brother's confidence.

He sat with that thought for a few minutes, feeling totally disappointed in himself. Vegard would never have let something like this happen. How was he going to fix it? How would he regain his brother's trust?  

Suddenly a twig snapped, causing Bård to jump.

“Hey.” Vegard spoke softly.

Bård glanced over his shoulder and saw that his brother had calmed down. "Hey," he replied quietly.

“You and those long legs. I couldn't have gotten on the trail too long after you did, but I couldn't catch up to you."

“Yeah. I just needed to.…”  Not knowing how to complete his thought, he let it float unfinished.  

Vegard came closer and, after a moment's hesitation,  sat down next to him. “I thought I saw you walk into the woods, but then I began to wonder if you really would walk so far after such a long day.”

"Umm."

“The path seemed to be all uphill, it was kind of brutal, wasn’t it?" Vegard was swinging his legs and clicking his hiking boots together. "Really pretty though. It reminded me of when we went to visit that hermit for Norges  Herligste. Remember?" 

"Uh huh." For once, Bård didn't mind that Vegard was rambling on. It felt familiar and comforting in a way. 

"No chocolates to bicker over this time, though.” Vegard chuckled, but Bård simply nodded. "I should have known you had something like that in mind when you bought them."

"We did give most of them to the Hermit."

"Most?"

"There were quite a few left." Bård looked down with a sheepish grin. 

Vegard raised an eyebrow. "You ate 'quite a few' of those chocolates as we hiked up to his house."

"Well he wasn't a very big man,  I think he ended up with as many as he needed."

"It seems to me that some fell on the ground, too."

Bård chuckled at that and with a sideways glance noted that his brother was too. As he remembered it, the candies spilled after the two of them had started pulling on the box in order to gain sole control of the item of contention. 

“Vegard, I'm sorry I pushed to hire Karl. I feel like I've made such a mess of everything.” 

“No, you haven't. Karl did.”

“But I vouched for him. You didn't want to hire him and I should have listened. I understand if you blame me for all of this."

Vegard began to shake his head slowly. “You know, I'll admit, when you suggested hiring Karl, I thought it was a bad idea.  But you made some good points about how sometimes people just need a second chance. And you reminded me about how lucky we were to have been raised in a good family, and to have had each other since then to keep ourselves from going off the rails. Not everyone has that kind of support.”

Bård nodded. He remembered saying those things, he just hadn't realized how much they had resonated with his brother. “So, now what do you think?”

“I still think you were right. I'm proud to have a brother who wants to help people. I don't want that to change. Karl messed up, but maybe someday he really will have it together. Maybe you'll even want to give him another chance." Vegard rubbed Bård's forearm softly and added, "You're a very nice guy. "

“Is that a good thing?”

“Of course it is. I'm kind of counting on it right now.” Vegard gave Bård a lopsided smile.  “I'm sorry I fired Karl like that. In front of everyone. Without talking to you." Vegard looked away from him, as if he were embarrassed. Bård felt awkward and stared out across the river valley, pretending that his eyes were not watering. When Vegard continued, he spoke quietly, "It was not my proudest moment and I know it made you feel like I blamed you for everything - which I don't.”

Bård turned and looked at his brother. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm sure. You didn't force me to hire Karl. I do have the ability to say ‘no’ to you, you know.”

Bård chuckled and nodded. “I am aware.”

Vegard leaned over and bumped shoulders with him, chuckling along. “Alright, come on. It's not **_that_ ** often.”

“I know.” Bård replied quietly.

Vegard looked out over the river valley and sighed. He seemed to have something else he wanted to say,  so Bård waited. Eventually Vegard turned to Bård and hesitantly asked, “So… are we good?" Vegard bit his lip as he waited for the reply. 

It melted Bård’s heart a little to realize that Vegard had been worried about that. “Yeah... always.”

Smiling, Vegard leaned into him again for a moment, before jumping to his feet and extending his hand down. “Come on. We've got a lot of work to do before tomorrow.”

Bård allowed himself to be pulled to his feet and then brushed himself off. “l hope we can find our way back down in the dark.”

“No problem. I have an app for that.” Vegard began looking through his phone for the appropriate app while simultaneously searching his pockets with his other hand. 

“Of course you do.” Bård said under his breath.

“It leaves “breadcrumbs" on the path I’ve taken, so all we'll have to do is follow the dots as we go back down. Didn’t you add that app to your phone? I told you about it last month.” With a satisfied look, he pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and flipped it end to end in his hand a couple of times before turning it on. 

“I guess I forgot.” Bård chuckled. As much as he teased his brother about being a nerd, truth be told he sort of loved that about him. 

“It was developed to keep skiers safe in avalanche season. Now it's being used in all sorts of applications like…”  Vegard continued talking as he began to lead the way down the steep path.

Bård followed quietly, interjecting a question or comment here and there, but mostly allowing Vegard to talk excitedly about things he had read while Bård let his mind wander. He started thinking about the things Karl had said about Vegard. Although he occassionally found his brother to be a bit annoying, Vegard wasn't weird. He was inquisitive and clever, and he was supportive and kind. He was the best big brother Bård could ever imagine and Karl would have been lucky to have had that kind of person in his life. Not that he'd ever say anything like that to Vegard. They'd both die of embarrassment.

Vegard was still talking animatedly about something when Bård realized he had fallen behind. “Hey, wait up!”, he called.

Vegard stopped and waited patiently as his younger brother caught up, making sure to shine his flashlight on the parts of Bård’s path that might be dangerous.

“Stay a little closer, ok?" Vegard said gently when Bård had caught up. "I wouldn't want to lose you."

“Ok,” Bård replied as he and his brother followed the trail together. Smiling to himself he thought, _I wouldn't want to lose you either_. 


End file.
